. Teri and I and our good friend Ben went up to the Remarkables ski field (at 1600m) and hiked up beyond where the skiers go up to a saddle and then from the saddle we went further up the side of the mountain till we got to a plateau at 2050m. We set up Camp there, two.JPG)
tents which we dug into the snow to keep some of the wind out. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area around us and practising with ropes and things like that. I fired up my stove at about 5pm when we started to loose the light behind the bulk of Single Cone, the highest point in the Remarkables range above Queenstown (2319m). Melting snow for water for drinking and cooking at took a little longer than usual, but my stove is really powerful and before long we were all in one tent enjoying hot rice with Mince and vegetables (which I had dehydrated earlier making it much easier and lighter to prepare in the backcountry) We lost the light completely at 6pm and with the disappearance of the sun went the little warmth it had provided. Within minutes the temperature had plummeted to minus 9 degrees Celsius, The actual temperature that night we don't know as Ben's watch which had the thermometer ceased to function at minus 9. I dare say +and+Double+Cones+to+the+Right+from+Lake+alta+(1750m).JPG)
the night got much colder. Tucked up in our down sleeping bags we slept long throughout the night and woke up to a lazy start at 7:30, the sun was out but had not yet reached the tent. When it's first rays hit the tent the ice that had formed on the inside began to fall onto us giving us the motivation to get up and get moving. I melted some more snow for breakfast and after a hot brew of Hot chocolate along with breakfast we packed up the little gear we would take with us to the summit. We expected it to take about two hours to get to the summit, and took some chocolate to eat on the top along with our down jackets and rain coat to keep out the wind. Sporting our Waterproof overalls, and jackets, Climbing Harnesses, Helmets, gloves, two ice axes, climbing boots, crampons and of course our packs with the rope and other gear we would need we set off up the easy angle slope to towards the top.
Within 100m of the top the slopes steepen quickly. We sidled across under rocky outcrops to a narrow Couloir (pronounced Cool-wah), a gully with steep rock sides. Ben having a lot more experience on this sort of steeper terrain headed up the Couloir "Solo" without a rope. Teri and I did not feel comfortable doing this so got out the rope, Teri fastened herself to the anchors drilled into the rocky sides and I attached to the rope which was attached to her and I "Lead" climbed above her about 50m to the next anchors, I carried with me equipment to make a another anchor halfway up to protect against a fall, however after halfway up the angle eased a little and because the couloir never sees the sun the snow was firm and icy, meaning great for using the spikes on the crampons and the picks of your two ice axes. After I had clipped in to the anchor at the top just below the ridge, I belayed Teri up, bringing in the slack rope as she climbed. She then carried on past me onto a little ledge with a steep drop off. This was the scariest bit, as you popped over the ridge there was Queenstown and the whole of Lake Wakatipu laying over 2000m below you. Still on the rope so she would go far if she slipped she climbed up the ridge and out of sight. When she had reached the summit some 40m from me she tugged at the rope which meant I was to start climbing, It was my turn to get a bit of an adrenaline rush as I popped over the ridge, I admit I concentrated mainly on where I put my feet and axes and didn't have time to think about the drop. I was comfortable know that Teri had me on the
rope and that Ben was with her there to help. I came up to the "false" summit, the peak slightly lower than the highest point and could see Teri and Ben waiting for me, I followed my rope across the narrow ridge between the two peaks, 2000m drop on the left and a not so steep but about a 600m drop on the right. The ridge was about 60cm wide and I felt surprisingly safe, there was not a breath of wind, if it had been windy it would have been a different story altogether. The Summit was large and quite safe to walk around on comfortably. We spent about 3/4 hour up there soaking up the view, all 360 degrees of it. We could see in the distance, mount Earnslaw, Mount Aspiring and all the way to Mount Cook in the distance, such a clear day.
We walked back across the ridge unroped as these few metres we were all comfortable with, then we built an anchor and I belayed Teri down past the steep drop to the top of the Couloir, then she clipped into the anchor and belayed me down so we were both protected by the rope. We had to wait about 20 mins to descend as another group were coming up. When then dropped the full 60 m of rope down the couloir and abseiled down the icy gully. Teri went firs
t me second and Ben last. It was then a case of traversing the easy slopes back across into the sun, and after taking our harnesses and crampons off for the softer snow w
e ran down the powder snow slopes to the tents. One can take awfully big steps when descending snow slopes as you sink in up to your thighs sometimes if the snow if soft like it was.
After packing up the camp we set off for the car park much quicker going down it only took us an hour of plodding. All the skiers had gone for the day and we one of the last cars down. We met up with another friend in Queenstown for a nice hot meal at the Ale house Bar and then headed home, utterly spent.
.JPG)
tents which we dug into the snow to keep some of the wind out. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area around us and practising with ropes and things like that. I fired up my stove at about 5pm when we started to loose the light behind the bulk of Single Cone, the highest point in the Remarkables range above Queenstown (2319m). Melting snow for water for drinking and cooking at took a little longer than usual, but my stove is really powerful and before long we were all in one tent enjoying hot rice with Mince and vegetables (which I had dehydrated earlier making it much easier and lighter to prepare in the backcountry) We lost the light completely at 6pm and with the disappearance of the sun went the little warmth it had provided. Within minutes the temperature had plummeted to minus 9 degrees Celsius, The actual temperature that night we don't know as Ben's watch which had the thermometer ceased to function at minus 9. I dare say +and+Double+Cones+to+the+Right+from+Lake+alta+(1750m).JPG)
the night got much colder. Tucked up in our down sleeping bags we slept long throughout the night and woke up to a lazy start at 7:30, the sun was out but had not yet reached the tent. When it's first rays hit the tent the ice that had formed on the inside began to fall onto us giving us the motivation to get up and get moving. I melted some more snow for breakfast and after a hot brew of Hot chocolate along with breakfast we packed up the little gear we would take with us to the summit. We expected it to take about two hours to get to the summit, and took some chocolate to eat on the top along with our down jackets and rain coat to keep out the wind. Sporting our Waterproof overalls, and jackets, Climbing Harnesses, Helmets, gloves, two ice axes, climbing boots, crampons and of course our packs with the rope and other gear we would need we set off up the easy angle slope to towards the top.
Within 100m of the top the slopes steepen quickly. We sidled across under rocky outcrops to a narrow Couloir (pronounced Cool-wah), a gully with steep rock sides. Ben having a lot more experience on this sort of steeper terrain headed up the Couloir "Solo" without a rope. Teri and I did not feel comfortable doing this so got out the rope, Teri fastened herself to the anchors drilled into the rocky sides and I attached to the rope which was attached to her and I "Lead" climbed above her about 50m to the next anchors, I carried with me equipment to make a another anchor halfway up to protect against a fall, however after halfway up the angle eased a little and because the couloir never sees the sun the snow was firm and icy, meaning great for using the spikes on the crampons and the picks of your two ice axes. After I had clipped in to the anchor at the top just below the ridge, I belayed Teri up, bringing in the slack rope as she climbed. She then carried on past me onto a little ledge with a steep drop off. This was the scariest bit, as you popped over the ridge there was Queenstown and the whole of Lake Wakatipu laying over 2000m below you. Still on the rope so she would go far if she slipped she climbed up the ridge and out of sight. When she had reached the summit some 40m from me she tugged at the rope which meant I was to start climbing, It was my turn to get a bit of an adrenaline rush as I popped over the ridge, I admit I concentrated mainly on where I put my feet and axes and didn't have time to think about the drop. I was comfortable know that Teri had me on the
rope and that Ben was with her there to help. I came up to the "false" summit, the peak slightly lower than the highest point and could see Teri and Ben waiting for me, I followed my rope across the narrow ridge between the two peaks, 2000m drop on the left and a not so steep but about a 600m drop on the right. The ridge was about 60cm wide and I felt surprisingly safe, there was not a breath of wind, if it had been windy it would have been a different story altogether. The Summit was large and quite safe to walk around on comfortably. We spent about 3/4 hour up there soaking up the view, all 360 degrees of it. We could see in the distance, mount Earnslaw, Mount Aspiring and all the way to Mount Cook in the distance, such a clear day.We walked back across the ridge unroped as these few metres we were all comfortable with, then we built an anchor and I belayed Teri down past the steep drop to the top of the Couloir, then she clipped into the anchor and belayed me down so we were both protected by the rope. We had to wait about 20 mins to descend as another group were coming up. When then dropped the full 60 m of rope down the couloir and abseiled down the icy gully. Teri went firs
t me second and Ben last. It was then a case of traversing the easy slopes back across into the sun, and after taking our harnesses and crampons off for the softer snow w
e ran down the powder snow slopes to the tents. One can take awfully big steps when descending snow slopes as you sink in up to your thighs sometimes if the snow if soft like it was.After packing up the camp we set off for the car park much quicker going down it only took us an hour of plodding. All the skiers had gone for the day and we one of the last cars down. We met up with another friend in Queenstown for a nice hot meal at the Ale house Bar and then headed home, utterly spent.
No comments:
Post a Comment